The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway linking St Ives, Cambridge and Trumpington opened on 7 August 2011. It has now passed its sixth birthday. There have been successes - millions of passengers on the buses, and thousands of cyclists, walkers and horse-riders on the 'access track'. But there have also been problems - flooding of the cycle track, punctuality spring to mind, accidents and bumpy track. The blog is for anyone who wants to discuss their experiences of using the guided busway.

Tuesday, 26 August 2014

A reminder that the routes A and B timetable will be changing as from 1 September 2014.

Route B timings will change between Hinchingbrooke, Huntingdon Rail Station and Huntingdon town centre. Peterborough journeys on route B will be diverted to serve Huntingdon Rail Station. Evening journey on route 45, which links Hinchingbrooke and St Ives, will run 5 minutes later.

The 1716 service A from St Ives to Somersham will operate Mondays-Fridays only.

Some other changes will start from 7 September. The 0702 from Hills Rise to Cambridge and the 0649 from Brampton to Cambridge will terminate at Regent Street and no longer continue to Cambridge Rail station. There will be extra journeys from Longstanton Parl& Ride to Cambridge Rail Station at 0815 and 0830

Wednesday, 13 August 2014

This week's Hunts Post (13 August, page 13) report a story about what are described as 'cheeky cyclists' who have been triggering the busway traffic lights at the Harrison Way crossing in St Ives to change for them. These lights were intended for buses. And this has been causing delays to motorists.

Cambridgeshire County Council engineers have now altered the lights so that cyclists can no longer benefit from them. The article says 'The junction had been designed so that cyclists and pedestrians would use a traffic-light controlled crossing - a crossing that does not give priority to the detriment of traffic on Harrison Way'.

Tuesday, 12 August 2014

The Cambridge News has used FoI powers to extract from the County Council the costs, over the past 3 years, of "investigatory works" on outstanding faults. This is before any money''s spent on fixing them. Of course, it's possible that some or all of the costs might be recoverable from BAM Nuttall. The story includes, inevitably, a quote from Cllr Mike Mason.

Monday, 11 August 2014

Several roads in the centre of St Ives are being resurfaced this week, and as a result, evening buses on route B are diverted. After 7pm they will not be calling at Station Road or St Ives Bus Station.

These buses will be running non stop between St Ives Park & Ride and the first stop on Ramsey Road north of St Audrey's Lane.

According to the second of these notices this arrangement will last until 24th August (except weekends). Presumably that means buses will run as normal on Saturdays. But what about Fridays?

I travelled back from Cambridge this evening on the 22.33 service. There was nothing at the bus stop in New Square to say there would be a diversion.

When the bus reached St Ives Park & Ride, the driver made no announcement that the bus would not be calling at the Bus Station or other town centre bus stops.

At the time of me writing this, there is nothing on the Stagecoach website about this diversion, and nothing on thebusway.info website either.

Saturday, 9 August 2014

A quarter-mile section of the busway cycle track is flooded between Long Stanton and Oakington. The water is only about 20cm deep and it is possible to cycle through if you go slow and don't mind getting your feet wet.

The Cambridge News has reported flash flooding in the Cambridge area including Dry Drayton, Oakington, Rampton and Bar Hill.

The flooded part of the cycle track lies close to the Beck Brook, a normally small stream flowing form Dry Drayton, through Girton and Westwick and down to Rampton.

Wednesday, 6 August 2014

This week's Hunts Post ( 6 August, page 6) has a letter form a St Ives residents whose commute by car to Bar Hill is seriously slowed by traffic queues cause by the busway traffic lights on Harrison Way.

The letter writer thinks that there should have been a bridge or subway for pedestrians and cyclists. He suggests (1) installing traffic lights at the Meadow Lane roundabout giving priority to traffic on the bypass rather than traffic emerging from the town centre, and (2) allowing southbound traffic to use the Town Bridge at peak hours.

Saturday, 2 August 2014

On the Stagecoach A bus today I noticed a poster advertising a new fare option - the '5 SmartDays' ticket - which would suit people who travel odd days rather than every day. There was a leaflet giving some details about this fare option, including how to register 'your card'. I guess that must be the existing electronic multi journey ticket 'Stagecoach Smart' . The leaflet names a website - stagecoachsmart.com - but I could find nothing on that site about the 5 SmartDays ticket. I was hoping it might say how much the 5 SmartDays ticket costs.

If anyone finds out more about this ticket option, could you please send a comment to this blog?

The County Council is looking to recruit two new Busway Coordinators. I've been unable to find details of the vacancies on the Council's own website, so here's a link to the particulars posted on an external job board, Empty Lemon.

Friday, 1 August 2014

Buses on Cambridgeshire's guided busway are currently powered entirely by bio-fuel.

But now it seems that CCC is considering the possibility of low-carbon options.

One such option is electrification, using a magnetic field emanating from a cable laid the central reservation between the running tracks as a power source for charging electric buses while they are in motion. The County Council is commissioning a study to make an initial analysis of the case for electrification using 'dynamic inductive charging'.

The advertising portal for Cambridgeshire County Council is here with a specific link to this project here. But bear in mind that, as this is a tendering process with an end date, the link may become inactive after a time. Closing date for expressions of interest appears to be 4th August.